1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a wireless communication system, there has been contrived link adaptation control aimed at maximizing the transmission rate while maintaining the quality of communication by adaptively selecting a modulation scheme and an error correction coding rate (MCS: Modulation and Coding Scheme) in accordance with a wireless transmission path state (channel state).
Link adaptation control performs MCS selection on the basis of reception quality, e.g., an SINR (Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio), RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), or PER (Packet Error Rate).
Proposed link adaptation control schemes include the open-loop link adaptation scheme of independently performing MCS selection on the transmitter terminal and the closed-loop link adaptation scheme of performing MCS selection by using feedback information from the receiver terminal (see, for example, JP-A 2003-324382 (KOKAI)).
In general, MCS selection with higher accuracy can be expected in accordance with a channel state from closed-loop link adaptation control which can use feedback information from the receiver terminal as a transmission partner than from open-loop link adaptation control of determining MCS selection only on the transmitter terminal. For this reason, the use of the closed-loop link adaptation scheme is now actually under review in standardization of IEEE802.11n specification as a next-generation wireless LAN specification (see, for example, Joint Proposal: “High throughput extension to the 802.11 Standard: MAC,” IEEE 802.11-05/1095r2, November 2005).
The closed-loop link adaptation scheme in which feedback information from the receiver terminal is available is based on the premise that it basically performs MCS control reflecting a feedback result from the receiver terminal. If, however, there is no specification about the timing of returning a feedback result after a feedback request is issued, the transmitter terminal cannot know the exact timing when the feedback result is returned. It is conceivable, in particular, that in a wireless LAN, since the transmitter terminal transmits frames after acquiring a transmission access right by using CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance), if many terminals exist, it requires time more than expected until the return of a feedback result.
Although in a wireless LAN, HCCA (HCF Controlled Channel Access) of central control method is also specified as access method, since even in HCCA, the station terminal side may require a certain time to acquire an access right, it is conceivable that a similar situation occurs until the return of a feedback result.
The information of a feedback result returned in a certain time may lack reliability in a wireless environment in which the channel state greatly varies. That is, since the channel state varies, the wireless environment at the time of return of a feedback result may have become different from the wireless environment for the feedback information. In such a case, when the transmitter terminal performs MCS control reflecting a returned feedback result, the control is not optimal and may lead to deterioration in communication quality or throughput.
When using the closed-loop link adaptation scheme, the transmitter terminal needs to determine timing at which it transmits a feedback request necessary to receive feedback. It is conceivable to use a method of periodically transmitting a feedback request frame. However, indiscriminately transmitting feedback request frames will increase unnecessary traffic, in particular, in a case of many terminals and lead to a deterioration in the throughput of the overall system. In contrast to this, decreasing the frequency of feedback requests will lead to inability to adaptively perform MCS control following a varying wireless propagation state. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to issue a feedback request at a necessary timing as needed.
As described above, conventionally, MCS control using the closed-loop link adaptation scheme suffers from great variations in channel state, and uses a feedback result with low reliability. This causes deterioration in communication quality or throughput.